Part Of Me
by NativeWolfy
Summary: She didn't know how it happened, why it happened, not even how she got here. But she wasn't about to just accept something this impossible, she'd search for the reason. She was supposed to be dead, after all.
1. Chapter 1

**This has been lurking at the back of my mind(and my files) for the longest time. At first, it was only a few sentences, which is why I hadn't posted it at all. Then as I played Mass Effect more and more, got a feel for the game and characters…(Unfortunately, I can't find ME, only ME2 and 3...)**

**And, well, this was born.**

**Truthfully, I've always wanted to post some Mass Effect stuff, and after writing stuff for a while now, and getting positive feedback. I thought, why not?**

**So now you have this.**

**Don't own Mass Effect, the geniuses at BioWare do. I only play with their toys for a while.**

**XxXxXxXxXx**

She barely caught the sob that tried to claw it's way up her throat, the emotional agony tearing at her chest made her stumble. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to stop the tears from falling from her eyes as she hurriedly walked away from the house she used to call home.

Bastards, all of them. Everything was fake, everything she thought was there was nothing but a fantasy illusion. How could she not see what was right in front of her eyes?

"_You're nothing but a disappointment!"_

"_Why can't you be more like your sister?"_

"_So lazy, so idiotic, useless!"_

The words were stuck in her head as she put as much distance between her and them.

No one would miss her, she figured as she stopped, taking her glasses off and wiping at her eyes again. She sniffed, digging in her pocket for the pocket tissues she always had, blowing her nose when she found it before looking around for somewhere to throw it.

She let out a sigh, wiping at her face with her sleeve again as she disposed of the tissue in a trashcan.

She still wanted to cry, still wanted to stop where she was and sink to her knees because of the pain her parents caused but the world wouldn't stop for her, just because she felt like hell. So she pushed herself onward, letting out a frustrated noise when she realized in her haste, that she had forgotten the bag that had all her clothes. The only thing she had was her phone, iPod, Playbook and some money.

She contemplated the road leading towards the house she used to consider home but decided against it. She had a job, still had clothes at her dorm at the University she was going to. A few forgotten pieces of clothing weren't going to make a difference. Nor would it really matter, anyways.

She turned away, absentmindedly cleaning her glasses before placing them back on, heading towards the bus stop.

Water still leaked form her eyes, but at least she wasn't blinded by it this time. Even if she was getting sympathetic, pitying looks from people for her tears.

She was glad her parents didn't live on the reservation anymore. At least then, if they still had, she'd not only be getting looks, everyone around her would be whispering about her behind her back, all because they were all family.

She grumbled to herself, leaning against the glass wall of the bus stop.

Life wasn't all about happy endings, she said to herself. If the people who raised her didn't want her, and neither did her siblings, then she didn't _need_ them. It would have been nice to know they supported her, but she was an Aquarius.

She was smart, she was strong, she had a pretty good job and she was studying both Law and Psychology. She was independent and didn't need constant appraisal to tell her she was awesome.

Okay, maybe that was going a little too far, but she didn't need constant compliments, regardless. Sure, it was nice to get praised, but it wasn't something she expected. People usually called her an egotistical bitch for a reason.

A frightened scream ripped through the air, causing her to look up in alarm.

Her eyes scanned along the road, looking for the source of the frightened shouting and screaming.

Her eyes fell onto a little girl, probably around ten years old, completely oblivious to the screams behind her as she had headphones in her ears, the music probably blasting. The people who were behind her were screaming at her, pleading for her to run but they were frozen in fear as a driver sped towards her, going to fast to stop in time.

Her heart clenched in fear when she realized what would happen if no one did anything, and before she knew it, she was running towards that little girl, praying to whatever God there was that she would be able to save the poor thing.

She took no notice of anything around her, focusing everything she had on getting to the little girl with everything she had.

She could say everything was just like the movies, where it seemed like things were going in slow motion and every sound was dull and drawn out as she rushed towards the girl, as if she was going in slow motion. The screech of the tires coming too late resounded in her ears as she realized what was going to happen.

Right now, if she wanted to live, she'd have to stop running and be forced to watch the little girl die. If she continued running, _she_ would die because there was no time to save them both, even if she tried.

It was a split second decision, really, but she already knew the choice she was going to make as she reached out for that little girl, pushing her out of the way and watching the surprise and horror enter the young girls eyes when she looked back, when she realized what could have happened and what was going to happen right before her young eyes.

She was probably considered young herself, especially to the older people who were still frozen in horror. But the one in safety now was only a _child_.

Sure she was only twenty-three years old, maybe it was considered not being alive long enough to some people…

At least at the cost of her own life, this little girl would live her own life and not have it cut short. She comforted herself with that thought as she felt the car crashed into her, let out a screech of pain as she felt bones break or felt as her skin was ripped open and felt the warm blood as it spilled from her wounds.

Right now, as she felt rippling pain flow throughout her whole body, heard the dull shouts of people and felt the vibrations of feet running, stomping, doing _something_ as people panicked, she just wished that she had been knocked out upon impact, instead of having to feel all this pain.

The last thing she saw or heard before everything went black was the face of that little girl, the worry and terror on her face as she screamed, which sounded really far away, if she thought about it. She felt small hands clench at her own hand, moving to her shoulder shakily as words blurred and all sensation left.

She survived. Was her last thought before falling into the darkness and letting everything go.

She survived…

**XxXxX**

Pain shot up from her hand, making her jerk and let out a strangled scream.

She was surprised when she realized she had rolled away from whatever it was, no pain radiating from her person other then the one in her hand from being stepped on. She felt her ribs, where she was sure there was at least one broken rib, if not several. When she left nothing, she slowly tested her legs, ignoring the weird noise coming from somewhere when she realized she didn't have anything broken.

Her face felt weird though, which made her raise a hand.

Her bottom lip felt swollen, maybe even split; a bruise was already formed on her cheek, if the bump was anything to go by and when she touched her forehead, she winced when her hand came back with specks of dried blood.

She screamed when something grabbed her, jerking back to try get away but not going far because of the person's grip.

Her eyes went up to the length of his-or whatever's-arm, shock, amazement, horror and awe flashing through her as her eyes travelled from his arm and up, finally looking into _his_ face.

His features were undeniable, even if she was technically blind right now, only able to see blurrs, she'd recognize him anywhere…

Garrus Vakarian.

He was talking gibberish right now, in his own language, she guessed.

Translators.

Right, she'd need it in order to understand anyone here. She cautiously tried to pull her arm out of his grip, only to give up and just stare at him when he wouldn't let go. Why didn't he understand that she couldn't understand him? She thought, looking away from him and around them.

Dark, dirty and loud was all she was able to see. And that could only mean one thing, she realized.

Omega.

She looked back at him when his talking-or was it considered chirping, since he was an Avian type species?- didn't stop in the slightest and waved her free arm to try and make him stop talking.

"I can't understand you." she stated blankly, her free arm reaching up and pushing aside her hair to reveal her ear to him, where the translator would normally be.

She hurriedly let her shoulder length hair fall back into place, knowing that in turian culture, baring the neck was usually an invitation for him to mark her as his mate, if he so desired. Which was something you'd think wouldn't be, since turians were avian…

She shook her head, pulling her arm close to her chest when he released it.

It didn't hurt, it was more out of reflex then anything, really. But even if she thought she knew Garrus…as far as she knew so far, this was real right now, and trusting someone right off the bat was usually what got people killed, no matter who they were.

That was why she didn't immediately follow after him when he gestured her to.

Which was silly, if you truly stopped to think about it for a minute. Garrus believed in justice, after all, so it shouldn't have made her feel so unsafe. Then again, this was _Omega_. So her caution was understandable.

It also made her wonder where she was, and what had happened so far. Since Garrus was on Omega though, she was guessing that he was now Archangel, and since he wasn't holed up in his base, he was still with his team…which meant that Shepard was still in a type of deep sleep while Cerberus rebuilt her or him…

What the hell was she doing in Mass Effect, and why wasn't she critically wounded, was a better question, actually. She almost rubbed her forehead, stopping when Garrus had something before realizing it was Medi-Gel.

It wasn't bad, really, considering what she went through what only felt like a few seconds ago.

The question still stood though; why was she here in the first place and for what reason?

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**I'm actually really curious about this one. Seriously curious, because there is absolutely no dialogue at all, only narrating, which-as all my readers would know-is a bit strange for me, because I always start out this way, but add dialogue in there.**

**And the fact that I actually took the time to describe things, that's a change too, right? **

**I have other ME stories brewing, by the way. A lot. Just want to see how this goes, and if it's as popular as my other stories, I may post others.**

**Blasphemy! I know, I already have stories that are unfinished, but I'm pretty much borderline ADD, if not totally ADD.**

**Review, please?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I wasn't getting any reviews, but that didn't mean I wasn't getting feedback.**

**I do so happen to stalk my own stories, you realize. Look at their story states, count how many alerts-slash-favourites it gets. I have no life, you must realize…**

**Anyway. Enjoy.**

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Out of courtesy, she usually stayed away from the men whenever they were planning or getting ready to leave for their little missions. Of course, just because she stayed away didn't mean she wasn't curious. She was vastly curious, in fact, ready to sneak into a room or hide something in their 'war room' just to know what they were doing.

She never did though.

Which is why she was here, fiddling around with her Omi-Tool-God only knows why the men got it for her, maybe it was to keep an eye on her?- or eyeing their weapons they had picked off dead mercs.

Sometimes, she felt like a pet to them. God only knew why they kept her around, she wasn't much good at anything, really.

Maybe it was because she was considered a baby-or in others cases, a little sister- to them, since they had let her mooch of off them for four months now.

Well, not mooch, exactly, she was able to work at that one Elcor's shop down the street from them. And really, it wasn't as bad as they made it sound. So maybe the reason why they babied her was because of the state Garrus found her in? she mused on this as she absentmindedly turned off her translator when she realized that they were sitting in the family room, planning.

They were a strange family. A very, very strange family, really.

A krogan, quarian, salarian, batarian and two turians. Plus one human, her.

Their krogan's name was Ratchet, funnily enough. He was also the oldest, and strangest krogan she'd ever seen, if you thought about the ones you met in-game as Shepard. He was the one who was the most protective over her out of their merry band, and the way he acted around her-in krogan terms-meant he viewed her as part of his brood, his children. Of course, he considered all of them his children, she smiled amusedly.

Pax was their only quarian. Refused to tell them his story, but he was awesome, nonetheless. He was actually the one who had helped her figure things out. He was actually their go-to someone to get hacking done, making her hover around him more often then not for the very fact that he was a technological genius. Then again, he was quarian, so it was no wonder why he was so good at hacking and the like. He was also the silent type who was smart, able to think on his feet with Garrus if a job went bad.

Silo was suspected of being from the STG, their bombs specialist, as Garrus so put it. Like all salarians, he talked fast, thought fast and moved fast, which meant that she was the only one who was able to understand him, most of the time, considering she usually got hyperactive about certain things and talked just as fast as him. Still, he was quirky, as far as salarians went. She supposed it was for the simple fact that he was salarian though, why he was so curious about things and why he indulged said curiosity.

Skrell was fun to tease, she grinned, ignoring the chatter of the guys as she finished fixing herself something to eat. She usually called him Skrillex just to bug the hell out of him, which made him bug the hell out of her in return. Sure he was a little testy, but it seemed like all batarian's were testy, so she let his snide comments slide and ignored the scowls and bursts of temper. Skrell didn't seem to mind the nickname these days though.

Garrus and Sidonis were the same species, were raised alike but had totally different personalities.

While Garrus stood for justice, would be willing to lay down his life for them and was a strong, reliable leader who not only cared about them, but treated them as his family. He would come around, talk to everyone and make friends. Sidonis was almost the same, but not quite. He talked to them, was friends with them but he followed orders like a 'good' turian. Sure he had his options, but he wasn't going to fight for them if the odds weren't in his favour.

Okay, saying he didn't have a backbone wasn't supposed to sound as insulting as it did. She just meant that Sidonis wasn't a leader.

Her gaze slid over to the guys as she put her dishes in the sink, picking up her glass and about to leave the room again before narrowing her eyes at the too innocent looks on their faces. She eyed each and every one of them before concluding that Pax or Sidonis was about to do something as they were the only ones missing.

She looked around her, seeing nothing out of the ordinary before up towards the stairs and balconies.

She eyed the shadows wearily, looking for the slightest sign of anything before turning back to the guys with a glare on her features.

"What the hell are you up to?" she asked, reaching up and turning her translator back on.

She shook her head when Silo and Skrell asked her what she was talking about. Garrus looking offended at the notion that she'd think they were up to something. Ratchet merely looked amused as she tossed another glance around.

When she turned around to grab her drink, she gasped as her eyes instinctively shut as her face met with something, coating it in whatever it was.

"You're assholes, _all_ of you." she growled, hand wiping away whatever was on her face before regarding it, eyes travelling from the whip cream on her hand to the sheepish looking turian in front of her.

His only response was a shrug and a smug grin.

Her own response it to was to smear the whip cream all over his own face with a cackle, fleeing the room as the guys erupted into laughter and Sidonis flailed.

She chuckled, wiping the rest of it all her face as she travelled towards the room she claimed.

"This has been bugging me for awhile now. And, despite what Garrus says, I have to know…" she stopped walking, blinking at Pax when he stepped into her path. "You have to know…?"

"Why do you turn your translator when we're talking?" confusion was laced in his voice, making her furrow her brow at him. "Because of courtesy?"

"…courtesy?" he deadpanned at her, even if she couldn't see it.

"Yeah, courtesy. While I'm apart of this family, I'm not apart of your plans, right? So I figured, since I won't be going out with you on missions or helping you plan, I may as well stay out of your way or turn off the translator. Courtesy."

There was a moment of silence as Pax simply gazed at her in bemusement.

"And I can deny any and all involvement, that's a bonus. Just in case, you know?"

He snorted at her, shaking his head and patting her shoulder in a brotherly way.

"But we trust you, which is why we stopped dropping into silence whenever you entered the room. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, you _are_ a help. Coming back with intel we can't find, by just over hearing it or by just being at the right place at the right time. You help, and have shown us as much loyalty as we put into ourselves…"

He trailed off, she realized, making her look up at him.

"You're just apart of this family, okay?" he shuffled a moment, almost looking tense but relaxing when she smiled at him and placed her hand on his arm.

"I know, but other then that, I'm useless. You know it, everyone here knows that other then telling you guys information I overhear, I'd be worthless. And even if I did know where you'd be, what you were doing; I wouldn't be able to actually _do_ anything about it."

Pax scoffed at her. "You underestimate yourself, Misha. You are an Infiltrator, someone we have been looking for a while. Someone who is always present, but more often more then not, over looked."

She raised an eyebrow, silently wondering if he was complimenting her on something she'd always tried to force into her own reality, or if he was simply stating a fact.

Before she could say anything though, he continued on. "You are able to handle yourself fine in fights, if going to Afterlife to drag our asses back home is anything to go by," he chuckled. "Even with weapons, you are good."

"Think about it, you will be an asset to our team." Pax patted her on the head affectionately before leaving.

She watched his retreating back, her eyes eventually falling onto his backside before he was gone from her sight.

She was only a woman-girl, female, femme; however you wanted to put it.

She jumped back, eyes going to the floor and her hands and noticing the whip cream had turned into a liquid while they had been talked, getting sticky.

"Oh, ew. _Gross_." she groaned, going into the nearest bathroom to wash her hands and face.

Yeah, like seeing a white mess on her face and hands was really something…you know what? She wasn't going to continue that thought right there. She grabbed one of the smaller towels, drying off her face and hands.

She could consider it, at least, Pax's advice.

After all, she pretty much stalked them around the house, picking up on certain things and leaning as she went along. Plus they were nice enough to actually show her how to use weapons, especially the sniper. She hounded Garrus into teaching her how to use the blasted thing since no one else used it.

She also prided herself on being a fast learner.

So…yes. She'd think on his advice deeply, if only be able to actually help and not feel like a hindrance.

Besides, she was apart of this family full of men, right? Sure Skrell had kids, and he had a home. Along with Silo and Ratchet, but Garrus, Pax and her lived in this house. Still, it was nice to know she had family with these guys and their extended family.

She stopped short.

A family…her brothers, their other halves being her sisters and their children. Her nieces and nephews.

She stopped what she was doing, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Damn Pax, anyways. He just gave her more reason to help them and become more involved in what they were doing. A family to protect.

A dull ache began in her chest, reminding her of the betrayal she went through back in her dimension and the possibility of them dying any day now entering her mind.

"If I start putting aside creds now, then when the mercs attack, I might have enough creds to at least help Skrell and Silo's family." she muttered to herself, contemplating how she should do things now.

Maybe she could alter how things go. The thought made her excited, she could at least try to. After knowing them for four months, getting to know them and calling them family…she could at least try to stop what was going to happen.

Damn Pax, anyways. Whenever they talked, there was always an idea, another way to do things after their conversation ended.

Still, at least there was a _chance_ now.

Because, well, she was stuck here, wasn't she? She might as well make the most of it, try to stop certain things from happening. Problem was, she was running on unknown territory. It had only been eight months since Shepard died, and the two years between wasn't clear.

The only thing she knew about Garrus' situation was that they wouldn't be slaughtered for a while now, since she figured it happened not long before Shepard woke up. Four months to go for this year, and then another few months before Sidonis was forced into betraying them.

Three weeks, maybe even two, before Shepard wakes up where the thugs would be harassing Sidonis. Then it would be Garrus for almost a week-or was it a week? It had been a while since she'd actually played the game, after all- holed up in their little base, fighting for his life.

Damnit, she knew she should have been paying more attention to BioWare. Hell, she shouldn't have stopped playing the games, period.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**Garrus said he was with a Quarian, Batarian and Salarian, I believe(not sure). Plus Sidonis, but I love Krogans. To death, I love Krogans. So I made an extra squad mate for Gar-Bear!**

**And while I realize he tells you about his squad mates, he doesn't, at the same time.**

**So they're pretty much OC's who are supposed to be Canon.**

**Don't worry, there'll be more interaction between them soon! I'm just puzzling over their personalities I see and silently wondering how they all get along. Because, believe me, no family is truly normal, right? Especially a Mass Effect family. Or, well, BioWare family in general.**

**So what do you think?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Still just Misha. A little Garrus thrown in just for the hell of it.**

**Pretty sure he's OOC though, so excuse the sloppiness.**

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Human feet padded downstairs to the kitchen silently.

She remembered how the last few days went. How everyone had reacted to her announcement that she wanted to be apart of Archangel's Angels.

Corny name, she knew, but she hadn't been able to think of anything else. And it wasn't her fault, truly, a few people she had overheard were calling Garrus Archangel after all; with them being dubbed Angels as a default.

It was amusing, to say the least. Especially when everyone calmed down. She was shoved out the door with Pax and Ratchet acting as her bodyguards so she could go get the necessary equipment. Armour was among the list and she knew exactly what she wanted.

Something stylish but not too noticeable. Easy to move in, lightly armoured but effective- like quarian armour. She ended up picking a black and gold set rather then the two she had been eyeing. A black, blue and silver version of Garrus' own, and a red and silver one that could almost be the twin of Pax's own…

Weapons was another thing, although she gave them all a deadpan look and told them that she was just going to use the ones they already had. Considering the fact that most of said guns weren't used often enough to be claimed.

She also remembered how weird the under suit felt, like it was attaching itself to her body, becoming something like a second skin. She silently wondered how quarians were able to walk around with their suits on, even if it was for their health. Nevertheless, she was glad when she had on the armour, walking around in it just to get used to it.

She walked out of the kitchen, thoughts still swirling in her mind as she silently went into the family room.

She was actually surprised Ratchet had let her join them.

She knew the only reason why he even let her handle any guns was because he couldn't have to worry-excessively-about her not being able to handle herself. Sure she had taken defence classes back where she was from, but the class made her wonder if they'd work on aliens, since they were an all human race.

Then again, even if her defence classes went to waste with aliens, she could still use them against other humans. And it wasn't like she wasn't learning anything staying with a house full of aliens.

Watch, learn, practice and do.

That had always been her motto, for as long as she could remember.

Watch your enemies movements, their fighting style and how they do everything. Learn their schedule, any possible weaknesses and how to fight like them, just to have an advantage. Practice on what you've learned, adept to it and make it your own. And then you attack, you do what it takes to take whoever it is down.

Kind of sounds like something an assassin would say, now that she thought about it. But ever since she had ended up here, it had changed. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing, or a bad thing, to be honest.

Misha noted the foot steps coming from up stairs. Casting the mild panic and fear aside when she realized it was only Garrus moving around. For something to eat, drink or just because he was restless for some reason, she didn't know for certain.

She continued to ignore the noises even as he started making his way downstairs. Focusing on a data-pad in front of her and trying to remember what it was before it dawned on her.

It was plans for another shipment.

She picked it up, peering at the contents as Garrus walked by and into the kitchen.

Illegal guns and drugs were being shipped to the Citadel again. Some kind of high tech sniper caught her eye. The Widow.

Now that, she thought, was an awesome sniper. Powerful and beautiful, unless you're the one standing on the other end of it. The only problem she really had with it was the weight. She'd really have to have serious strength to lug it around with her.

Her eyes were drawn to a different part of the data-pad. Not as heavily guarded as it should be, but the people who were assigned to it were pretty heavy hitters. At least four Krogan and a few vorcha. Probably thirty, at the most.

At least it wasn't a shit load of vorcha like the last time. That had been pure hell for her, especially since it seemed like they spawned like rabbit's from hell.

The krogan were going to be a problem though. They could usually be blinded by rage, or if they were getting hit from multiple sources. Taking on four of them would be a challenge, since there was only six of them. The only heavy hitters they had were Ratchet, Pax and Silo, and even then, their formation wasn't perfect. Which was as much as Garrus said. They needed to work together.

Like superheroes. She snickered at the thought.

She could see Garrus as the turian version of Batman. Cape, yes, but no tights. Tights would only get in the way. Probably a black and blue armour set, fit with a cape that complimented him. The visor would need to stay, he just wouldn't be Garrus without it…Of course, Garrus wasn't as uptight as Bruce-Batman.

Ratchet could be their Kilowag, actually. Only he'd be crankier and wouldn't have a power ring. Or he could be someone like the Punisher. Punisher would probably fit him better, actually. Black armour, if she was able to sway him. Red was something he always wore, though, so she highly doubted it.

Pax was like…well, she didn't really know. He could possibly be Gardner, seeing as he had qualities like him; only difference was that he was less of an asshole then Gardner. Maybe he'd be the quarian equivalent of Grayson-Robin.

Silo was definitely the salarian version of the Flash. He was a genius, he was fast and he was clever. So he'd probably be more Barry-Flash then Wally-Flash, considering he didn't flirt-unless he did, and it was only when she wasn't paying attention. Because that was possible. The bastard…

Skrillex was definitely the Red Arrow of them all. But that didn't mean that he thought he was better off alone or that he was as selfish-self-centered as Harper was. Nor did she mean anything by calling him Red Arrow, seeing as he was mostly one giant douche most of the time. Skrillex did have a wife and two hellions, after all. And even if he was testy and always had a snide comment for anyone, he was always there for them, no matter what was happening.

Misha's train of thought was interrupted when the data-pad was snatched from her grasp by none other then Archangel. Or a rather sleepy looking turian named Garrus who was carrying a cup of some kind of hot liquid. It all depended on the person, really.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asked in false innocence, already knowing that it was 7am, Garrus' usual time of waking up. "Uh-huh, and I'm supposed to believe you slept?" Garrus did the turian version of an amused smile.

"I don't sleep. You should know that, smartass. I've lived here long enough," she took the data-pad back, continuing to read where she had been forced to stop at, mid-sentence.

Sure, she felt his gaze still on her even as he went to go settle himself down on the couch opposite of her, but this was Garrus. He was going to stare at whatever happened to bewilder, confuse or fascinate him in the morning.

Unfortunately, that was her at this moment.

Damnit, she knew she should have just stayed in her room and pretended to sleep. But no, the need to run around was clawing at the back of her mind and she was moving before she even knew it.

Damn insomnia, it was nothing but trouble. Damn nightmares, restlessness and just plain weird dreams while she was at it. She was lucky if she was able to get four hours of sleep, like Dean.

She shook her head, letting out a sigh and tossing the data-pad at Garrus and watching as he fumbled to catch it, ending up with it in his lap regardless of his intention.

"You're hopeless," she smiled at him fondly. Not that he could tell, really. It was strange for turians to understand a humans expressions, so she didn't expect him to understand what emotion she was showing on her voice. Damn turians anyways, they were all vocals. Certain pitches in the tone can indicate anything…

"You do realize that taking on four fully armed, potentially stupid dangerous krogan is close to impossible, right?" she inquired, rubbing at her eyes, looking at Garrus in amusement.

"We have you now!" he said, sweeping his arms out as though unveiling some kind of magical and dangerous weapon. "Small, not easily spotted and careful. You can be in and out of some place before anyone even realizes it." he added, a certain tone to his voice that she chose to ignore in order to deadpan at him.

"You're overly confident about my abilities. That could get us all killed," she said dryly. "You also forgot to remember that I've never done anything like this before,"

Garrus tended to exaggerate things in the morning. If it was just to wake himself up, or to be silly in exchange in blaming it on just waking up, she wasn't sure. He wasn't…quite what she thought he was.

Garrus was still Garrus, don't get her wrong. He was still a sharpshooter, still had his dry sense of humour with a hint of cynicism. He was still awkward when it came to the opposite gender he knew well. Especially when he says the wrong things sometimes.

"Look, Garrus. I appreciate the thought of you being pleased with what abilities you think I have…"

**XxXxX**

Slowly, as a few months pasted into a year, their little band of six turned into twelve.

And once they hit year one, they were actually beginning to get _noticed_ by the mercs; they started realizing that cargo wasn't just getting misplaced, that it was going missing. They noticed a decrease in their numbers, a drastic decrease. Then they noticed that operations on assassinations and everything beyond and above were getting interrupted.

Their newest members were two asari's, another salarian, a younger but no less violent-in fact, he seemed even _more_ violent then Ratchet!- krogan, another batarian and another human.

Their family seemed even more…dysfunctional now.

Aero and Def were sisters-Not that it really mattered to her, they were all family regardless of any blood relation. Still, they were great biotics and made things easier on their squad, considering the things that needed to be done and the firepower they were usually under when accidently noticed by mercs. They usually stayed back and supported them by using shields or fishing enemies out of their hiding places. Not to say they were unqualified in other areas. In fact, Misha usually took them on missions she was assigned, which was usually to just gather information or spy on certain people. -Apparently, their mother liked music from the human eighties; personally, Misha silently congratulated her on her taste in music.

Titan was a massive krogan, young compared to Ratchet but strong and resilient, always charging into battles with guns blazing. He was usually shouting things while fighting, getting into playful banters with anyone who was answering him on the com-link as they fought. It usually ended in bets being made about how many kills one could get on the other. He was one of the front liners in their merry squad; him, Ratchet, Silo, Skrell, Pax, Yop and Peyton.

Yop was the other batarian. He was technically a part of the Blue Suns, but abandoned them and 'vanished' when things started becoming twisted and wrong. So he was dead to them, or as dead as he could get, considering he left no body behind for the Suns to find. So it was a win-win in her books, not so much with Ratchet when she declared they were keeping him. She believed his exact words were 'What are we doing, running around adopting people now?' which she replied with a regal, defined 'Duh'.

Peyton was the only other human. He was originally from the Citadel, who were one of the first humans who were let into working in C-Sec, something Garrus was surprised and amused at. When he showed up at her work place one day, telling her he wanted in, she was confused, to say the least. Then he clarified what he meant when she spoke with him in private, having him tell her that she and other ever she worked with had saved his daughter. Sick with C-Sec and not making a difference, he had left and looked for them.

She vaguely wondered if this was how Garrus would be when he was older before pushing the thought aside and telling him to meet him at a certain time and place where Garrus would 'interrogate' him. Needless to say, they got another father figure in their band.

Tanar was the very first salarian woman she had ever seen-and would ever meet, she was thinking. And just like all salarians, she did everything fast. She couldn't make a bomb from nothing like Silo, nor could she hack anything like Pax-and her, because Pax was the best teacher- but she could modify guns like no ones business and was a bigger help then the asari sisters in her kind of missions. So all in all, she was a mad genius that everyone was delighted in having join.

Things were finally going to get interesting.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**So what do you think so far?**

**I went back and replayed the first bit of ME2, learned Garrus had twelve people instead of six, so more characters. Yay!**

**Not so sure what the hell I'm going to do know that there's twelve people. I had a solid plan until now, because now I have to rethink a few things…**

**Thoughts?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Trying to get Mass Effect out of your system is hard.**

**Especially when you have ME2 and ME3 right there in front of you, pleading for you to play them and watch, swoon and fawn over Garrus.**

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Sometimes, she felt more like a secretary when she was working.

Of course, she went around asking the customers if they needed any help. Advice on what to get, what would be best, things like that. Most of the time though, she was thrust into the back, counting how many of this and that they had, marking it down on a data-pad. Putting the number and price on the check-out thing they could order from. Having to make phone calls-could she even call them that anymore?- to certain people to order more of something or to answer someone's questions.

Or to send someone to salvage whatever it was her boss wanted. Paid when he, she or they returned, of course.

So yes, while it was almost like a normal store she was used to, she still felt like a secretary.

She was making some creds, at least. God knew how they survived on just robbing what the mercs had or cheating at card games.

She was actually curious on how you can get the upper hand on cheating an experience cheater…

She pushed the thought aside, for now, she had work to do.

Granted, work meant pricing the newest things, putting them on display and adding them into the check-out. After that, she could walk around the store, make sure nothing was stolen-because, damnit, they were a classy store which automatically meant something was bound to be stolen- and ask customers if they needed any assistance. She let out a small huff, kind of sad that the store was so empty right now.

The sad thing about being here was that there was actually _less_ work. She couldn't believe she missed how hard things were back in the original world, then here. Everything just seemed more…easy to do.

You didn't have to stand by some cash register any more, you didn't need to put things through the scanner and take tags off. You didn't even need to worry about delivery when things were ordered!

Oh no, they had service drones for that. Or it was automatically shipped to the persons place.

Were people really this lazy nowadays?

It was a miracle that there were actual fit people.

Her eyes slid up when she heard footsteps making their way over to the little store. Her eyes caught the blue and white designs and Misha mentally groaned. Just great, fantastic, really. The Blue Suns.

She bet they were pissed off because of their missing stuff. Idiots shouldn't have made things so easy, then they could have had a quarter of their stuff still.

She plastered on a smile, greeting them when they came in. "Hello and welcome. Are you looking for something in particular, or just browsing?" She almost let her smile drop a second to soon to be replaced by a scowl when one of them sent a heated glare her way and the other two grumbled before they went straight to the check-out, register, whatever the hell that thing was called.

She rolled her eyes when the three finally left, badmouthing Archangel and his minions.

Yeah, they were that low in the mercs and thugs eyes. Bastards.

She rubbed at her eyes, tiredness making itself known before there was a cup of coffee thrust into her grasp.

Her honey-brown eyes meet twin blues. Ah, the asari sisters.

"Hey girls," she mumbled, leaning against the counter and watching them as she drank the coffee, suddenly glad for their presence. Maybe it was for the sugared up coffee, because she was usually annoyed by them. Question was, why was she usually annoyed again?

"We saw you had work today,"

"And realized you probably needed coffee,"

"So we bought you a cup, just in case."

"We can't let our baby daddy die on us,"

"Nope. Just couldn't,"

Ah, that was why. "I didn't get either of you pregnant, you whores. That was your own doing, with a little help from Titan," she gave both Aero and Def deadpan looks. She seriously wondered why no one did anything, especially Titan. With their flirting, of course. With her. It made her wonder if it was because it was amusing why they didn't do anything.

She wouldn't put it in the category, Things They're Above, anyways.

Aero and Def both pouted at her. "But you could be,"

"Think of all the fun,"

"We could make it worth your while…"

"I'd rather be in a foursome with sex crazed turians, thanks." Misha gave them an amused glance in return to their attempt at getting her into their sexual activities. She knew how krogan were in bed-especially having walked into their own house at the wrong time. So sex crazed turians would be preferable to what she…witnessed.

She shuddered as the unwanted image resurfaced in her mind.

At least turians were more thoughtful about their human partners, she rolled her eyes at the hurt looks she received.

"Go away, before you chase away any customers that might come in here," she shooed them out, ignoring their protests.

Kicking them to the curb felt good, even if it was only temporary.

**XxXxX**

Hours later and the only things that went were some of the better guns, a few parts of a vehicle or ship and some kind of weird décor for said ship slash vehicle. Oh, and a suit of armour.

Even when she heard footsteps coming towards them, she ignored them because people knew what time this shop closed down. So the only conclusion was that they were going next door, or it was one of Aria's men.

She paused what she was doing, it _could_ be one of Aria's guys.

"Oh, hey Grizz. What are you doing here so late?"

She resisted the urge to tilt her head slightly at the amused turian. "Some more weapons, and a replacement armour for one of the batarians." he grunted, searching through the register.

"Ah. Well, we just got in some of these guns today. And what did Farrint do now, rip a hole in his pants bending over?" she snorted, earning herself a laugh from him. "Something like that. Don't know how he does it,"

They spent close to half an hour going through what was available and shipping it over to whoever needed it.

"See you next time,"

Misha muttered to herself after he was long gone. Now she had to redo everything, down some of the guns, a armour suit and some other knick-knacks.

But that's what happens when Aria wants something. She got it, no matter what; and everyone knew that when someone from Aria's thugs came by, they had to cater to her needs no matter what. But at least she pays for what she needs, not like any other ruler she could imagine.

"You smell like Grizz."

It was a declaration, and she wasn't sure how she felt at Garrus' tone.

"Course I do, what did you think I was going to do when he waltzed into the shop, turn him away and get air locked because of it? He is apart of Aria's thugs, you realize," Misha gave Garrus an amused look.

"You didn't need to let him touch you," he said dryly, giving her a deadpan look.

She actually didn't think it was possible for turians to have deadpan looks, but there it was. And just like the genius he is, pointing out the obvious. She knew she didn't need to let Grizz touch her, but at least it wasn't inappropriately, like other turians were in this damn place.

It was like Sin City, only worse.

"You realize I'm dubbed turian lover by people in Afterlife for a reason, yes?"

She smirked at his silence.

"Turian lover?" he sounded more amused then anything. Damn. "No ones creative these days. It's all boring, mediocre names even children could come up with," she replied. Did nothing faze the man…turian…turian-man?

What happened to her easily flustered Garrus? Was he cloned wrong, or did he get kidnapped and this was the best the kidnappers could do? Because it was just weird. Nothing about what she said made him stop, fluster and stutter anymore.

Okay, some things did. But she had to say the right thing-or was it considered the wrong thing?- at the right-wrong?-time to get him to spas' out.

Maybe was it because he'd been living with her for a long time and witnessed one of her Walks of Shame when she wasn't exactly being the stealthiest. What with trying to crawl up the stairs and ending up falling down the few stairs she climbed up when she heard him.

It was the heels fault. It was always the heels.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"No, I'm not even listening to you." she gave him a grin.

"Turians?"

"Would you prefer it to be vorcha, or krogan? Maybe even batarian? God, can you even imagine what a batarian-human baby would look like? 'Cause I don't even want to guess. Besides, vorcha freak me the hell out, what with the four holes on their foreheads and their sharp, pointy teeth with no lips. And krogans…I don't even want to go there. Especially with what I saw when I walked in on Titan, Def and Aero. Can you imagine the horrors of extremely rough sex with krogans? They will _break_ you."

She gave Garrus the most serious face she could when all she wanted to do was laugh at the look on his face.

"And salarians would be too fast, don't you think? I mean, they do everything else fast, so why wouldn't they do _sex_ fast? I mean, really. Besides, turians are actually _considerate_ to their human partners and-"

"Okay, I get it. Really, you can stop talking." he actually sounded exasperated, but she could hear the undertone of embarrassment and regret in his voice, accompanied by the slight stutter.

Haha, take that Mister Vakarian!

"So you're trying to make a turian-human baby?"

Goddamn Garrus. That bastard could find anything and use it against you.

She took the Batman comment back, he was more like Riddick.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

**I had so much fun with this chapter. You have no idea. Of course, I'm half asleep, and tend to exaggerate things and act like I'm on a sugar high, so of course this was going to be more…humour-ess.**

**Add that with sewing, and you've got one bored chick ready to fall asleep.**

**The sewing is actually beading. I'm doing moccasins in school, which is cool because it's apart of my culture, so yay!**

**Review, please?**


	5. Chapter 5

**I have no idea, it had just occurred to me that I haven't given you any insight on Misha's search for the reason why she's here. So…yeah.**

**Also, see if you can see the Bullet Storm reference in the end, it should be pretty obvious…**

* * *

Misha muttered to herself angrily as she read the data-pad over again. Half-way into her research on time travel and she gets stuck all because of the equations and such, speed of light, worm holes, potential ways that lead to no where because nothing explained how she was able to get _here_ when she was supposed to be _there_.

No, wait, there was the chance that she never survived the accident-but body transfer just seemed so…magical? Illogical?

And why the hell would she transfer to someone who looked exactly like her, anyways? If it were a body transfer, did she simply transfer herself into this body because it looked like her, and she could act like herself, was the original dead or severed from the body and her soul was merely looking for a host?

…Yeah, that kind of sounded like that one horror movie she watched, Insidious, or some kind of weird voodoo thing.

Or she could be hallucinating. Maybe she was just a figment of an imagination and all her memories, the things she thinks are real and everything could be fake.

She could be like Sam when he was hallucinating about Lucifer. Not able to tell real from imaginary anymore, because of some kind of bad experience. Like you're trying to separate yourself from a horrible memory-nightmare?-you want to forget and the only way was to create a totally new person with different memories. Technically killing the original, but it would always be lurking in the back of her mind….

That sounded just as weird as the first idea.

Misha pushed two of the data-pads away from her, deciding they were going to be of no use to her.

For the love of God, why couldn't she have had a fascination in science then psychology? Science would come in handy right now.

Well, there was always theories in movies she could think of. Like that one movie, Donnie Darko, there was an unexplained worm hole wherein the little girl-his sister, she believed-was hit by a car no one seen coming. And then there was the wormhole that brought that black haired chick back to the 'crash'.

Or some type of Inception concept, but she never got the movie, couldn't figure it out so she wasn't even going to try explain this away with that.

Comatose and frozen were not available as you still aged when you're in a coma and there was no way in Hell those bastards she shares blood with would even try to save her, not after all they did and said to her. Besides, it was in the middle of summer and she was no where near ice.

There was the whole speed factor Mordin was talking about when they were going planning to go through the Omega 4 Relay, but then she'd have to be close to it for that to happen. Or it ould have been a freak accident that she was transported here when they came back through or went through, pushing her back into this time, Shepard's revival.

Or EDI's talk of time travel with Shepard in Mass Effect 3.

Who _was_ Shepard?

She looked at her omi-tool, considering it in serious thought. She could look Shepard up, there were probably millions of articles on Shepard, the great hero of the Citadel. The very one who's being revived by Cerberus at this very moment….

Was Shepard male or female, were they good or bad, what did Shepard look like? Thoughts, questions and wonders swam in her mind about Shepard as she searched for who Shepard was.

A picture popped up, made her choke on a laugh and close her eyes, holding the omi-tool away from her as she shook in silent laughter.

Wild jet black hair, 5 o'clock stubble, full lips, a nice strong jaw, gorgeous blue eyes…it was like looking at Misha Collins in Masss Effect-as _Commander Shepard_. Her sides ached as she slowly stopped laughing, hoping that no one heard her. No more laughing at his looks, or _who_ he reminded her of.

But please, let his name not be Misha or Castiel. It would just be too much and she'd never be able to look at him without bursting out laughing.

_Constantine Shepard, the hero of the Citadel…_His name wasn't that bad, or weird. Strange, maybe he was strange himself?

Misha shook her head. When-_if_ you finally meet this man, then she'd judge him all she wanted. But her thoughts drifted from Shepard unto previous thoughts, why was she here?

Magic doesn't exist, not in this realm, at least. Technology was very advanced here, especially with on asari-considering the fact that the asari have that Prothean artifact. And the asari could have some type of time warping device, maybe…but why would they pluck a nobody girl with a horrible family out of her own time? Unless it was a rogue asari, doing it without any one's notice and this was a test.

Or this could all be in her imagination as she lies in a coma in some hospital room.

No, better to get off this train of thought before it went any farther. She was researching Shepard right now, after all.

* * *

Misha lounged some-what comfortably on her perch on top of a building. Sure she was supposed to be watching the Blue Suns and their illegal weapons trade but that wasn't supposed to happen for another hour or so, when she thought about the 'private' messages they had been sending.

Apparently, they were holding off because they got a supposed lead on Archangel. Fools that they were, they decided to pretend to meet in another place at the same time, using what they assumed to be a safe and secure channel to communicate.

Like hell they'd be able to hide anything from her and Pax, those pieces of mother fu-a ping from her omi-tool drew her thoughts away from the guys she was currently stalking.

**The packages have arrived**. Was the only thing it said, but that only meant that she was to alert the others.

**Packages have arrived and the two groups will be meeting each other in 15 to 20 minutes.**

Misha sent the message quickly, pushing herself into a better position to allow her to see everywhere in the area and grabbing onto her sniper as Garrus sent a reply, telling her they'd be there and some of them were already in position.

Though she could see that, hidden in a corner that's not easily seen was Skrillex and in another was Silo. Aero and Def were here also. Ah, the protective lovers were too, Ratchet and Titan were seen for a few moments.

How in Hell could two giant krogan hide or blend into the crowd as they did? Misha just couldn't understand it, truly. Hulking masses of muscle and they could disappear without a moments notice just like an assassin or her and the girls.

Well, there's the fact that she practically ordered them to not allow any of them to give themselves away, and to wear someone that covered their faces-at least partially if they didn't want full on face masks!

They were vigilantes for a reason, and all vigilantes wore masks. That was her reason.

And if they couldn't or didn't want masks…kill them all. It was sound reasoning, logical and safe. It was also a little ruthless, but whatever it took to keep her family safe, she was going to do it and damn the consequences.

Misha let out a soft sigh, the urge to push her own mask aside and rub at her eyes in frustration making her a little irritable.

Nevertheless, she had a job to do, and that was back up sniper-because Ratchet still thought she was still much of a _baby_ to get any more involved. Oh, and recon but she was always sent with someone like Silo or the girls or Pax.

There was a shot and Misha turned her attention away from her thoughts to the docks.

Looks like they already started and there was already a betrayal in the ranks. Probably the second in commander, he always did seem insane, but to kill his own-no, wait…it wasn't fired at his captain!

The area suddenly erupted into chaos as the Suns started starting at the buyer, accusing them of being involved with Archangel and setting a trap while the buyer was cursing out the Suns for making them involved.

They were actually shooting at _each other_.

The idiots! Misha's eyes widened when she heard a scream, a _child_ was there, for Gods sakes, _how?_

Misha cursed to herself, abandoning her post as Garrus and the team moved in to neutralize the area. Even more shots were being fired, the two groups panicking when they caught sight of them. But she was only concerned with the kid, jumping, running, leaping over boxes and winding through the maze of them, she rushed as fast as she could over to the kid, realizing that the Suns were backing up _towards_ the sound of the cry.

Thinking fast, she quickly put the sniper away and took out the shotgun-Man, did she ever love Ratchet at the moment!- and starting shooting the fuckers.

And when she got to the source of the cry, she found not only _one_ kid, but _three_ scared little things! Or, well, one of them was a batarian child up to her waist, the other two only reached her knees and were-Oh God no, they were _Skrellix's_ kids!

"What are you doing here?" she shrieked at them, pushing them into cover and blowing a guy's head to pieces. Great, just great-Skrillex was going to kill her, scold the kids-who the hell was their turian friend?

Fuck, it didn't matter, she just had to protect them!

"Move, and I will murder your dick!" she snarled at one of the Suns who got to close. "Murder my…that doesn't even make sense!"

"Of course it does! I'm pointing a Goddamn shotgun between your legs! So if you move any closer or do anything, I will _blow your shitting dick off!_" Misha hoped to whatever God was out there that he believed her. Because, honestly, she had no more bullets in the shotgun. Used it all getting to the brats.

Before either could say anything though, the Sun was shot in the back and collapsed with a gasp.

Misha stared at Ratchet with wide eyes, especially as he stepped on the head of the Sun and squished it beneath his foot. "Was squishing his head under your foot necessary?" she deadpanned.

"It was, yes," Ratchet looked down at the disgusting human he just killed. He contemplated defiling hiss body even more then just stepping on his head before turning his gaze to Misha.

"Why are you down here?"

"The brats, why the hell else would I be down here? Little things almost got killed," she grumbled, ushering them out of the cover she had pushed them into. "They and their little friend were almost hit by the Suns, of course I was going to abandon my post to protect them." she defended herself.

Ratchet only patted her on the head in response.

* * *

**Brothers like Bullet Storm. And I do too, kind of-I've only ever watched people play Bullet Storm though…**

**Anyways, did you get the reference, or, rather, line(s)?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Kind of rushed, actually.**

**The first part was actually written out not long after I posted the previous chapter but I couldn't think of anything else so I just stopped and forgot about it.**

**Until now.**

**Enjoy.**

**xXxXxXx**

"That's enough!" Misha shouted, interrupting Skrell's rant on how much of a risk she had pulled. She stood up from her place on the couch, glaring into his eyes, "Don't you think I realize how bad it was to leave my post? I would have stayed there, if your kids hadn't been there!"

"And if I had stayed in my post regardless of the kids, been a heartless bitch and watched them _die_. How do you think I would be feeling now? How do you think _you_ would be feeling after realizing you were pushing the fucking Suns _towards_ them? That it would be your fault if they died?" she snarled, jagging a finger at his chest. "If I hadn't abandoned my post, then where would we be? Mourning the loss of _children_! For the love of God, would you have rather I had left them to die in a place they weren't even supposed to be in? I saved them because I knew no one else saw them, I left my post because I knew that even if any of you had seen them, you would have been too late!" she shouted, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she turned her back on Skrell and started pacing the room.

"The protection of the innocent would always be first priority with me! Every one of you knew that even before I had joined your little vigilante group!" she calmed herself down, noticing how-even if they weren't going to admit it- Garrus and everyone were listening in on their little fight_._

"_Besides_, you four eyed bastard, everyone in this group can take care of themselves," she snorted, stalking out of the room. Worried she was going to say anything else, to wound them all with her words…she left the base.

She needed to cool down, drive away the anger.

But that was earlier, not long after they had finished their business with the Suns and got the kids(and that turian boy) back to their parents.

Now…now she was hiding from everyone.

First, she had merely walked around their district. Which turned into running after a few minutes and she had wound up at the market place of Omega and she hid there for a while; going from shop to shop and looking at everything they had-but not really, no, she had still been mad, angry…confused.

Then she had realized she was still dressed like one of Archangel's 'minions' and quickly left before any of the gangs caught on and changed her clothes at a secret apartment she was renting, just in case something happened.

And now she was here in Afterlife, hiding in the shadows.

Misha let out a sigh, cradling her head in her hands. She was glad the waterworks had stopped, that she had stopped feeling hurt for doing the _right thing_. It seemed like everywhere she'd go, whoever she'd meet, she'd always do something _wrong_. Even if it was for the right reason.

It made her think. Her parents never loved her, her siblings stopped loving her, the few friends she had stopped liking her…was there something wrong with her, why everyone always found reasons to leave her or get mad at her?

All she wanted was to _help_. For someone to accept her for who she was.

Someone in her position, with such depressing thoughts pressing down; Misha knew they'd go towards booze or drugs to try drive away the pain but she had always been against both. Had witnessed from a young age what they could do to you.

She let out another sigh and glanced over to the floor, eyes scanning for anyone she knew.

Grizz was busy, Garrus and anyone from their group wouldn't be here till later and everyone else was a stranger.

Thoughts of what was wrong with her was pushed to the back of her mind, because if she didn't…then she'd just start sounding like Miranda, maybe even start _thinking_ like her. And that thought made her shudder in dread.

She could only comfort herself with the thought that she _saved_ the kids.

**xXxXxXx**

Garrus had gotten mad at Skrell after Misha had left.

She hadn't deserved the words he had thrown at her, the doubt that was planted again nor did he have the right to say she was in the wrong.

She had done what he would have done if he had noticed. Saving the kids was the right thing to do because they were _innocent _and Skrell should have been grateful that his kids weren't dead, not mad. He had told him that if Misha hadn't saved them, he would have been screaming at her for a totally different reason and that shut him up, made him walk out.

Pax had said he'd go look for Misha but it didn't sound like he was convinced he was actually going to, not unless she wanted to be found.

That was one of the things they learned about her fast.

Whenever she was angry or sad, scolded for doing something wrong, she always ran away to cool herself down or comfort herself. And back then, when she was still inexperienced, they had found her and tried to comfort her themselves, only to get pushed away violently. But as the days turned into a year, they had more and more trouble finding her until the day where they just _couldn't_.

It had freaked them all out. Made them worry because _what if something happened to her_?

But she had come back, softly apologized and barricaded herself in her room.

It made him wonder what her background was, why it even haunted her through memories she couldn't remember.

He wondered how many times it took for them to screw up before she left them.

**xXxXxXx**

Misha had moved from the shadows to a more open area where if Garrus or someone showed up, they would see her and she'd see them.

Although it was more Grizz's doing then her own. He had come to her, telling her that she couldn't keep avoiding whoever she was avoiding and to just accept what had happened because it had _happened._

She asked him when he had gotten so advice-giving and only gotten a grin in return.

Aria had also sent her a drink, also giving her a message to loosen up and get laid already, saying she'd let her have Grizz if she so desired.

Her answer was giving Aria the middle finger and watching her laugh in response.

Which only reminded her of how much of a bitch Aria could be sometimes. How she could have you killed on a seconds notice or tortured, how she always had eyes everywhere. But she was also nice, once in a while.

Maybe, if it benefited her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Sidonis walking in and he looked shaken, which made her eyes narrow when he caught sight of her and seemed to wilt in response. But he still came over towards her, slowly and trying to make it as long as possible.

It made her wonder what was wrong when it hit her.

Had Shepard been revived already?

Her breath caught, hoping it wasn't true and staring at Sidonis as he slide into the booth.

"What did you do?" she bit out, watching him flinch and cower. "Because I swear to every deity out there, if you did something that jeopardises us, I will _hurt_ you in ways they never could!"

He opened his mouth to response, closing it again and shrinking in his seat.

A snarl came over her face, "What did you _do_?"

"I…they…_know_,"

Misha swore, slamming a fist down on the table and glaring at him. "Did you tell Garrus?"

"…no."

"You fucking _idiot!_ Useless piece of _shit!_" she hissed, bringing out her omi-tool and messaging Garrus, already knowing what he meant by saying they knew. "What are their plans?"

"They wanted me to tell Garrus to meet somewhere, so they could attack…but I didn't send anything! I was just coming back home after dropping off the kids and they cornered me! I swear, I wouldn't have told them if they hadn't threatened Skrell's family!" Sidonis said hurriedly, following her as she got up and started walking out of Afterlife.

"You all should be glad I insisted on putting so much protection on the base! Just in case something like this happened or they found us out another way." Misha grumbled, marching towards their headquarters and cursing every single God or Goddess she knew of. Cursing whatever brought her here.

She had said she wanted to come here when she was younger, because it seemed so _cool_. Now she wished she had never heard of Mass Effect or had such a stupid wish.

Being here was _hell_. It was almost exactly like her life before, without the guns and aliens.

"You better fucking hope they haven't done shit yet." she growled.

**xXxXxXx**

**Misha's supposed to be this logical, swearing, abandonment and commitment issued young lady.**

**Is it coming out in bits and pieces?**

**And I couldn't find a good way to word the ending, so sorry if it sounds rushed and barely understandable.**

**Reader + Reviews = Inspiration = Love.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I LIVE, PEOPLE, I LIVE!**

**KIND OF.  
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**It's only 2,330 words this time, and kind of lame, really. But I've rewritten this chapter _so many times_ and I decided, screw it, I'm posting this one even if it doesn't deserve it. And here it is. Not much happens, but there is a little clue on how sneaky Misha is. And I'm hoping that Misha has a little character development here-a little.  
**

**Enjoy.  
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**- Break -  
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Misha muttered to herself in frustration as she prowled around Skrell's apartment. The Twins were with her, and Sidonis too. She was on family duty-which meant getting the families to safety, no matter the complaints. Though, it was more like body guard duty in secret, if you asked her. Considering the fact that she was there to more or less make sure they high-tailed it out of Omega before retreating back to base with the others.

If the Twins knew she was there to make sure the pregnant idiots got out safely, then they both would have been stubborn and insisted on staying, ignorantly putting the lives of their unborn children at risk.

Something she and Garrus didn't want to happen.

So they prettied the situation up to them, said they were sending the two with Sidonis to make sure the families stayed safe and no mercs went after them in vengeance or some kind of violence.

Of course, there was no guarantee that the mercs even knew about them or the fact that they had families, but no one could be certain, considering the fact that they were soulless bastards, so it was a precaution they were all taking.

Just in case.

Misha messaged her temples, sighing as the headache only seemed to get worse for her. It was a nightmare, getting everything ready for a soon to be attack and then planning, rushing, running around in secret. And since she was the only one who they hadn't figured out-something she was exasperated at, since it was prettyobvious _why_-so it was mostly her that was running the errands on the outside.

"Meha?" Misha frowned and looked down, eyes softening at the little batarian. "What's happening little man?"

"Why we leaving?" he questioned, reaching up for her and then clinging to her when she picked him up. "Because of some very bad people, Inza." she replied, frowning and bringing him to the front door where Sidonis was.

"Look, stay here with Uncle Sidhe while I go help your mama, okay?" she gave Inza a weak smile. It was hard to rush them like they were, watching Ilba fret as she tried to get everything together, as Peyton's family made it over and she realized how serious the situation was.

Misha had only gotten a few steps away from the two before Ilba came into the room, the last of the bags packed and baby Skully balanced on her hip.

Seeing the nod, Misha took Inza back from Sidonis and picked up one of the bags, the twins grabbing others and they all took off towards their emergency ride. "Look, I know you're worried as shit, Sidhe, but you can worry later-when you're all _safe_, okay?" she saw the alarmed look on his face, "You're not coming with us?" he hissed, the turian version of a frown on his face.

"I'm only here to make sure you guys get to Bianca, then I have to report back to Garrus and help them barricade the place. So no, Sidhe, I'm not going."

"But I thought Garrus would-"

"Garrus is more concerned about the safety of the children and mothers, okay? That's why I'm here."

"So the twins were tricked into guard duty?" a hint of humour entered his previously saddened eyes. "You know they wouldn't have come willingly otherwise," Misha gave him a small grin.

Something was still nagging away at her though, she was feeling spooked, watched, like something horrible was about to happen and it wouldn't shake. The feeling stayed with her no matter how many times she scouted the area, or had her Omni-tool run a scan-something she and Pax and come up with, kind of like echolocation.

Nothing had shown on the radar, nor had she seen anything suspicious, yet the feeling of _wrong _stayed with her. Made her paranoid, wary. Her eyes made a careful sweep of the area before stopping cold on one spot, a frown tugging at her lips.

When Misha felt Sidonis nudge her, drawing her attention away from higher up and towards him.

Sidonis only tilted his head in the direction the twins were heading with the families, though there was a question in his eyes. In return, Misha looked back where she had seen a shadow of someone before looking back at Sidonis as they continued onwards.

"You think someone's following us?" he asked quietly, careful not to draw attention to the two of them.

Misha grunted in affirmative, eyes roaming more discreetly now.

She was suddenly glad she was wearing a mask now, covering her face. If they really were getting followed, then whoever was there would come to the realization that she was with Archangel, so she and Sidonis would be attacked.

But considering the deal…maybe just her.

"Been feeling like prey for a while now, fucking sucks, like I'm a child again and I'm scared, waiting for the big bad monster to come steal me away." she hissed in agitation. It was no secret that Misha was a paranoid person-whether it be from her forgotten memories that made her so or if it was just her, they weren't sure.-and was often wary of everything, it was, however, surprising when she referred to herself as a child, height jokes aside.

Sidonis looked as though he were to say anything but she stopped him with a simple shake of her head, "If they decide to attack, then get away as far as you can. I don't care if any of you have objections, the main concern here is the _children_." Misha stressed the word children, her body conveying her seriousness.

Any objections he may have had were swayed away when he looked towards the families they were trying to save. Something that she was grateful for.

Because something she remembered from the game, of Sidonis speaking of the teammates…it made her relax a little, giving him an assignment and forcing him to be useful, like he wasn't just abandoning them to their deaths but aiding the ones who _couldn__'__t_ fight. Protecting them.

She took in a deep breath, unease making a shiver travel through her. _Easy Misha, you__'__re not the same defenseless girl you were when you got here. Calm down, take deep breaths, you__'__ve endured worse then this. You survived because you__'__re strong. Not because of superhuman strength or extraordinary power, but because you__'__ve never given up. Never known what it means to try._

The reassuring voice sounded like someone long gone, but someone she loved with all her heart. Someone she never even knew, but no loved her regardless. Her uncle had known her long before even her mother had, had talked to her and left little letters and tapes of his voice before he died of cancer…

She shook her head, a frown on her face. Now was not the time to be losing herself in thoughts, especially if they really were being followed. "Go walk with them, Sidhe," she said quietly. Watching the shadows and ignoring his annoyed sigh as he none the less complied.

She was tense, straining her senses to catch anything coming their way, anything. Mercs couldn't be trusted, nor reliable. They always played dirty, but then, everyone who was 'bad' seemed to play dirty. It didn't matter their name. Thug, heathen, gangster, mercenary, murderer, killer…they all fought dirty.

But then again. So did she.

A shot rang out and the twins up ahead jumped, spinning around to see what had happened only for Misha to wave them away, silently telling them to leave. She knew they wouldn't like it, leaving her behind to face them alone but they had to get out of there-fast.

And she was going to give them the time to do it.

**-Break-**

Garrus knew it was stupid of him to be angry at Sidonis. He'd told them because he was surrounded, outnumbered, and it was foolish of him to be so angry, especially since he had found Misha and told her not long after. Gave them time to get ready for the attack.

But those were her words, not being angry at Sidonis.

He could see the anger in her eyes none the less, smell the anger in her scent, along with the relief that they hadn't come home to a desecrated home.

It was like there was a silent horror in her eyes, like she was expecting to see them all dead or dying-that they both would be too late to save them. The expression kind of reminded him of learning that Shepard had died, like he didn't want to believe it but accepted it nonetheless.

It was like…her look…

Garrus shook his head, the turian version of a frown on his face.

Her look was a silent wish for them not to have died, to have abandoned her.

Like she knew how it felt like to be alone.

"Hey, Archangel!"

"Well, I never thought the Mercs were this stupid." Garrus was about to turn his head, share the joke with Misha before realizing she wasn't there before looking up at the rest of his squad at their chuckle and giving them all a grin.

The voice was unexpected, and Garrus couldn't help but want to ignore the voice considering the woman who called out sounded cocky as hell. Like she was gloating over something.

But before he could make a solid decision, he heard Ratchet start to growl from his perch over by the window. "That fucking whore." was rumbled as Garrus picked up his helmet and put it on, remembering Misha's displeased looks at Ratchet and Titan for not wearing anything to cover their faces.

His posture was relaxed, confident and his stride was a little lazy but at the sight of Misha in the middle of the group of thirteen, being held at gunpoint and hands cuffed together, his step faltered for the barest second before continuing. "And what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked sarcastically, eyeing the Suns around Misha and trying to figure out a way to get her out of there safely while killing all the Suns insight.

He comforted himself with the fact that she wouldn't just throw herself into things, reasoning that she always had a plan and she had one now. This plan was just simply one he couldn't clue into at the moment.

"What, not concerned with your whore?" the Suns female smirked, gloating right in his face.

Titan lumbered up behind him and Ratchet and Garrus felt his rage at their disadvantage. Pax and Tanar, he knew, were probably already trying to figure out a way to get to the Suns without being noticed-which was looking harder by the minute as six of the thirteen broke from the group and started to fan out. "Well, considering she's not a whore and able to take care of herself…"

**-Break-**

She rolled her eyes, listening to the woman start to simply taunt Garrus on the many ways she was going to torture her, how much she was going to enjoy it. And hey, maybe she'd give her over to some of her subordinates!

Which was just really, really boring.

Misha almost wanted to just snap her neck, truth be told. Or maybe choke the Suns bitch with the cuffs she had been put in.

She just wanted her to be dead. In anyway.

She tilted her head to look at the man behind her and raised an eyebrow in question. She patiently watched as his eyes roamed the area and accounted for the other Suns before giving the slightest nod.

Misha turned towards the Sun on her other side and quickly punched him in the throat, a shot ringing out and signalling the Suns bitch dying as she snapped the neck of her so called guard.

Running could be heard and then falters, thumps, screams and yells of pain as they were shot at.

The Omni-tool blade sprung forth and she stabbed upwards into the turian who had been coming after her, kicking her leg out and landing a kick into another's stomach and watched in a sort of detachment as his head exploded by a bullet.

"That's disgusting," she grimaced as she looked away. "Like so, so nightmare worthy. And right in front of my face,"

"You okay over there, Istan?" Misha's lips twitched in amusement as she watched Ratchet grab a hold of her partner in crime, a dangerous look on his face as he continued his growling.

"Fantastic!" Istan snarled, glaring at her as she slowly took off her cuffs and adjusted her now torn and bloody clothes before making her way towards the both of them. "You know Ratch, you don't have to pull that act, seeing as everyone here knows you're a big softie anyways." Misha said conversationally.

"Who is he?" Ratchet simply grunted, savagely shaking Istan around and making him groan.

"My inside source from the Suns,"

With that, Ratchet simply let go and grinned down at Istan wickedly when he landed on the ground. "Great fucking friends you got," Istan muttered, picking himself off the ground and giving her an unimpressed look.

"Sorry to break it to you, Hotshot, but that's her Daddy," Garrus informed Istan, an amused look on his face. "Nice to see you actually did have a plan," he turned towards her and ignored Istan's sputtering.

"I wouldn't have just succumbed to them if I hadn't had one," Misha said in return, an amused smile curling her lips. "Good to see you alive," Pax slapped her on the back with what she assumed was a gleeful look on his covered face. "And you're a dweeb, but what else is new?" she retorted, giving him an annoyed look.

"Nice to see you still breathing," Tanar said, clearly mocking her.

"So no love more Misha, is that it? Harsh, bitches, _harsh_."

Garrus laughed at the three of them.

**- Break -**

**Wishing there isn't any mistakes, but there is, right?**

** Also, just to inform you guys, the next chapter will be a full week time skip where Shepard makes his appearance and you find out who died and who lived in Garrus' or Misha's thoughts. Maybe their deaths will be detailed, maybe they won't. Depends on who wants to be the focus in the next chapter. And...and...and the reason is because if I pack in the whole week(or split it into two chapters) then everything will be kind of mashed together and kind of nonsense? 'Cause I've tried and it...it doesn't look good-or readable. BUT ANYWAYS.  
**

**What did you think?  
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	8. Chapter 8

**People actually seem to be still reading this, despite the fact that I haven't updated it in a while.**

**But then again, the people I know seem to adore Garrus to pieces, so. *shrugs* I decided to update.  
**

**There's also the fact that someone actually reviewed...  
**

* * *

"C'mon Ratch, you got a mate and kid waiting for you." Misha whispered, ignoring the urge to inch her way over to where Garrus was to listen in on his conversation with Shepard. But needing to make sure Ratchet didn't bleed out on the floor because of the surprise attack Shepard had done on him was something she couldn't just ignore. Shepard had gotten a lucky shot in a break in the older krogan's armour, which had happened on instinct on both of their parts.

Shepard to protect himself, and Ratchet with the need to protect her because Shepard had been aiming his assault rifle on her.

When Shepard had found out that Archangel was Garrus, he hadn't expected his old friend to lash out at him for almost killing not one, but two of his team mates. Judging from the look on his face, he had expected the same surprise and joy directed at him, not anger and confusion.

But that's as far as she knew. She was taking care of Ratchet and applying bandages and medi-gel to his wound as Titan and Skrell did perimeter check to make sure there were no stragglers and no breaks in their defence. They had already lost Yop, Peyton, Istan and Tanar, with injuries to everyone else which made things harder on them, but to lose Ratchet and know it wasn't because of the fucking mercs but the very person who was supposed to _help_ them?

Misha blinked away the tears clinging to her lashes and focused on Ratchet.

Yop and Pax had gotten nabbed in doing a perimeter check, when every one of them had been tired from the sudden onslaught that had happened in the middle of the night when there had been only three of them awake and then suddenly there was just…mobs and mobs of mercs and the battle lasted for hours. But they must have known that they did perimeter check after every battle, no matter the injuries and fatigued and used it to their advantage.

She had to admit, it was a smart tactic. _For mercs_.

But one that had cost them lives.

Yop was killed in the act of escaping with Pax, shoving him aside and tossing him into one of the secret entrances to the basement before a heavy mech shot at him and literally tore him to pieces. Which was on the third day, something that had crushed them because they had made it for _three days-_well, it was more two since on the third day he died but still! _Three fucking days with no deaths_.

Then when they got into the house on the fifth day, everyone was separated into two groups.

She had been driven into a back room with no escape route with Tanar, Peyton and Titan while Garrus and everyone else was forced to retreat into Garrus' room that had the best vantage points. And that basically turned into a holdup because they were quickly running out of ammo to use as they had horded all and any in Garrus' place because they were never far from it but to be separated with Garrus' room locked and closed and everyone shooting from the windows to try and kill the enemies at their door, well, you can't even image the destruction they had to use.

Involving not only Silo and Skrell's favourite bombs, but decoys.

What they hadn't accounted for was for the mechs that swarmed in when the Eclipse were taken out, and that was something that had killed Tanar, who had been at the back of the group. Titan and Peyton having been ahead as Misha tried to help Tanar do a limp-run to the door. But Tanar and she hadn't been fast enough, and Ratchet came over to bodily drag her away from Tanar when they had tripped and almost fell from a pool of purple blood. Red and blue having mixed as turians and humans littered the floor.

She was forced to watch Tanar die because Ratchet was selfish and said that 'he couldn't lose his baby girl,'

Peyton had fallen not long after that. Shot right in the chest and died in her arms. But the good thing that came out of their deaths, she guessed, was that because of how much anger they all felt, and how much they wanted to just see them all die and bleed out for killing their family members, the mechs and Eclipse group being killed off only a an hour or so afterwards.

The results of it, however, was that Skrell had managed to get a broken leg when he had gone with her and Ratchet to go get the ammo from the fallen enemies and had to be carried by Ratchet back to their vantage point while she covered their asses. And when some varren had attacked, Ratchet had been swarmed because only he and Titan had been the ones least injured, even by other krogans, which is how there was a break in his armour for Shepard to shot at.

And Pax had gotten shot in the arm by a sniper they had missed, surprisingly and horrifyingly, and had to be given the meds they had prepared in a just-to-be-safe case made especially for him. By her, naturally, like Hell she was going to trust any of the knuckleheads to handle or even _remember_ it.

Silo, unfortunately, hadn't killed or stopped the krogan before it charged at him and that resulted in a broken arm which was why they had made him and Skrell stay with Garrus, for their own protection and Garrus' own in case any mercs managed to sneak by them.

Misha herself had a broken wrist, which had her stop using the shotgun Ratchet had gotten for her and resulted in her either using her sniper when she was too tired or her handgun-it's a submachine gun but it looks like a handgun, so handgun it is-and magnum instead.

And if she was feeling up to it, she'd take out her assault rifle she insisted on getting even though she already had a shotgun.

Titan, the little fucking bastard, was the least uninjured of the lot. Which made no sense to her because they all knew he loved to run head long into battle, no matter the circumstances. Which he made sure to rub in all of their faces, even though Garrus was just, if not more, unhurt then he.

And since Misha had a broken wrist that was just healing on the seventh day-and _last_, Thank God-Istan and Ratchet had gone with her on a perimeter check, which meant that right before her eyes, her very own inside source had his head blown to smithereens in an act of vengeance on the Suns part, which had Ratchet in a fury because whether he had liked Istan or not-he actually hated the ex-Suns because Istan liked to flirt with her-he hadn't wanted any kind of harm to come to him.

Even if he had thrown threats and insults Istan's way from day one.

Also, his reason for hating him for flirting with her? _Because she was his baby girl_. Which, what the fuck? Not even her biological dad had given an inkling to _caring_.

She shook the thoughts away, frowning down at the look Ratchet was giving her. The one that said 'leave me behind'. Which she wasn't going to do. Ever. Nuh uh, bitch _please_. Or, well, in this case, Krogan _please_. "Negative thoughts cause more harm than good!" she chirped, forcing humour into her voice and hoping it reflected in her eyes.

She pretended to have not seen the eye roll that told her she didn't succeed.

She paused in prodding at Ratchet's healing wound in small revenge to listen in to Garrus' convo with Shep. "The only way for them to come inside is through that bridge," Garrus gestured to said bridge. "When we first got this place, Misha insisted on creating secret doors that need special codes down in the basement, with three decoy doors that are heavily secured. But that doesn't mean they're invincible."

"I call them a distraction for a reason, Garbear. And those secret doors I had made? Destroyed in case any of the idiots had the unfortunate luck of finding them by stupidly stumbling onto them," Misha said, standing up and turning to face Garrus. "So the only way out of here, is through the bridge."

Garrus stared at her in surprise before scoffing out a laugh, muttering, "Thought as much."

There was a sudden ping from hers, Garrus' and Pax's Omni-tools and the alert popped up, the one she had installed for the case that the doors were now open downstairs and currently being opened.

"Son of a _bitch_." she cursed, Garrus muttering irritably. "Shepard, while unexpected, we'll most likely need your help. Now, there's a door at the bottom of the stairs-" Misha rolled her eyes, taking out her submachine gun. "I'll take them down there and they can cover for me." she stated, gingerly poking at her wrist before deciding that it was fine. At the moment, she was pretty high on painkillers at the moment. "No. Absolutely not, you have a broken wrist." he glared at her, trying to intimidate her into obeying him.

"Which is less then anyone else, Titan be damned. Skrell has a broken _leg_, Silo has a broken _arm_ and Ratchet was shot in the fucking _side_ because of Pretty Boy over there," she tossed a snarl to Shepard. "Pax was shot in the arm, tearing a hole in his suit and making him unable to go very far because of the…" she flailed her good hand holding the submachine gun wildly and making Shepard, Jacob and Miranda take a step away from her, "Whatever is going on with him. So I'm going with him, but I'm going to leave Titan with you guys, got me? Because, for the love of God, he is the _only_ one here the least injured, which boggles the mind but I'll also have…" she gestured towards Shepard, "Those morons with me, and judging from the way you know Pretty Boy, he's a good fighter slash shooter which means he's safe-_ish_, right?"

Misha raised an eyebrow at him, daring Garrus to try and argue with her.

Ratchet suddenly pushed himself off the chair, stalking up to Shepard before lifting him off the floor by the…well, she couldn't say scruff of his neck but it kinda looked that way, to have him staring into Ratchet's glaring eyes. "You protect my little little girl, Pretty Boy, or else you're going to have to worry about us turning against you." he rumbled, a growl in his voice before abruptly dropping him and moving back towards her.

"You come up with any injuries, and I'll kill all three of them." he told her, watching as she gave him a salute in amusement. "C'mon ladies, we don't have all day," she liked to say she pranced past them, but she probably more or less _skipped_ past them as Garrus nodded his head reluctantly to Shepard. "He's right. If anything happens to Misha while you're down there…" Garrus let the sentence trail off, but eyed Jacob and Miranda in suspicion more then he did Shepard.

"Unbelievable." Miranda snarled, practically stomping as she followed after Misha.

"Keep me alive, Whore biscuit. That's _all_ they're asking for." Misha grinned, enjoying the glare Miranda sent her. She had never liked Miranda, or Jacob. The both of them had such messed up views, which she could understand. To an extent. But then again, the both of them had Daddy issues, which said a whole lot since from what she could understand, the people with parent issues were the most messed up.

She gave an amused smirk to herself. Guess that meant she was messed up too. But jeez, at least she had _morals_. Something those two were severely lacking in.

She punched in the code for the door to open, letting Shepard and the wonder idiots to go through first before heading in with them. She knew the first door wasn't going to be a challenge, seeing as it had the most obstacles to go through and she could have it locked and have the guns back online before Blood Pack were even halfway there.

The left and right doors, on the other hand, were going to be a problem. The right being a storage area that was connected to someplace, near a warehouse, being filled with a bunch of stuff that wasn't really any use to them, filled with not only vorcha but krogan and varren too. The left having only vorcha, one of which was carrying a torch, that had twists and turns-kind of like a maze, instead of the weird L shape it used to be-with obstacles in the vorcha's way.

Misha calmly listened to the shouts and screams as she set to locking the center door as the three eyed the room warily. "You should be a door before I'm finished. The door on the right is filled with useless junk we could use as cover as we fight our way to the lock, or we could go to the left, which is basically a mini-maze that only I know the way through to the lock. Also, if you haven't figured it out yet," she gave Shepard an unimpressed side look, "The Blood Pack is attacking right now."

"We'll go through the left first, and then work our way back here." He finally said, watching intently as she put up another firewall before closing the console. "You had that locked the whole time, didn't you?" Jacob narrowed his eyes on her.

"Firewalls." was her only reply as she dropped threw bombs into the right room, ones that activated when someone came near and others that just get blown up within a matter of seconds, if not a minute. "Let's go, ladies. Time's a wasting!"

Misha let Sheppard 'lead' them, for his peace of mind, more or less.

She was reluctant to have Jacob and Miranda at her back though. She didn't trust either of them, even if they got softer as time went by, especially under Shepard's command-technically. She still didn't like them in the third game, either, even if they did show more emotions and expressed regret and had a need to protect.

She shuddered at the thought of Miranda having _feelings_.

God, and Jacob not being _insane_ like everything suggests he is. And racist. Homophobic.

The both of them just creeped her the Hell out, okay?

It was amusing to see Shepard so unsure of himself, though. Pausing every once and a while to see if he was heading the right way instead of leading them to nowhere and getting them stuck or bringing them to a dead end. And when it came to the parts where there was more then two ways to go? His expression was _priceless_.

She hadn't been kidding when she said she turned the whole left side into a maze. She and Pax loved to wander through here and have everyone else try to find them. They all got lost, one way or another but could hear her laughter and Pax's taunts. Once, Titan had gotten bored with playing by the rules and started smashing his way through the walls and making his own pathway for him. And lo and behind, within a few minutes of breaking walls, he found her innocently munching on an apple.

It was funny, since when Titan roared that he had found her, everyone started to curse him out until one of them found the hole in a wall nearby and then started to call him a dirty cheater.

Something he easily brushed off.

She shook her head, leaning against a wall Jacob had pushed to when vorcha let out a yelp and started shooting at them.

**xXxXx**

When the doors were locked and she made sure on her Omni-tool, they had headed back to Garrus when suddenly the leader to the Blood Pack broke into the house when they were at the top of the stairs.

Naturally, she had run to Garrus while Shepard and his team tried to slow him down and kill the others that were trying to get them out of the way. Fortunately for them, Titan and Ratchet-despite his injuries-had joined them in the fight and the rest of them provided cover fire on the swarm that was suddenly coming in, all of them being from all three groups.

But despite all of Shepard's bullets, the Blood Pack leader-What the Hell was his name again?-had managed to make his way towards them in Garrus' room and proceeded to…well, try kill him. Although Garrus, being the sneaky bastard he is, managed to get out of his way before the krogan was even able to grab onto him. And luckily for _her_, Misha had managed to get a lucky shot at his head with her magnum and since krogans skins were so hard from living on Tuchanka, it took three bullets before he dropped dead.

Which was when the fucking gunship decided to make it's way over.

And when Garrus decided it was a good idea to take a rocket to his _face_.

"Garrus!" she shrieked, dropping to the ground and playing her magnum no mind as it skidding across the floor as she helped him get into cover from the gunship. "Destroy the Goddamned gunship, fuckface!" she choked out to the others when it appeared as though they were going to come over. Or, well, she did to the ones who weren't Skrell and Silo, the blood bomb lovers.

Turning Garrus over to the side, Misha felt tears gathering in her eyes all over again at hearing his pained groan as she pressed unlatched his upper body armour to get to his chest to try and stop the bleeding. "Oh my God, you just had to take a shitting rocket to your fucking _face_, didn't you? _Asshole_. What if you die now?" she cried. "What's going to happen to us? God damnit, Gar, what were you even _thinking_?"

Misha paid no mind to the little voice that was saying he was going to make it. She knew that little tid-bit of information already, but that was when this had been nothing more then a _game_. This, right in this moment, was reality.

"Garrus, look at me. Pay attention to me, okay? Just…don't go to sleep, because you're going to be fine, alright?" she whispered feeling herself start to panic, "Pretty Boy will get us out of here and you'll see a doctor who can help you, because Cerberus may be horrible people who deserve to rot in Hell, but they have top of the line people working for them, remember?" she blinked her tears away, moving her hand away to Skrell could put pressure on his chest as she moved her hand up to his neck and face. "So don't you dare give up on us, do you hear me?"

She wanted to touch her forehead to his as she cradled his head in her lap, the little part of her that wasn't sure he was going to make it telling her to let her feelings be known now then left unsaid and watch another person she loves die right before her eyes.

But she couldn't, she _wouldn't_ give into the voice.

Because he was going to make it.

* * *

**Misha was feeling more up to taking center stage for this chapter, but it kind of seems like Garrus wants to be center stage for the next one.**

**Need I say where they're going to be next chapter?  
**

**Review, please.  
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